Bangalore, 14th September,2017 – Amway India has partnered with Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled to set up a Braille-Audio Library for the visually impaired students at No 39, 15th Cross, 16th Main, Sector 4, HSR Layout, Bengaluru. The Braille & Audio library was inaugurated by Ms. Sophia M. Joe a 22 years old girl from Kochi, who is differently abled and has excelled in multiple fields of sports, fashion, modelling and arts along with Sandeep Prakash, Senior Vice President, West & South, Amway India.

Theobjective of setting up this library is to ensure easy access to braille books,besides which the initiative also aims at encouraging braille reading andwriting amongst the visually impaired students helping them in buildinglanguage proficiency. This library will cater to the individuals across agegroups, who otherwise have limited access to books. The library, as of now, hasa collection of books which include academic books, fiction, self-help, generalknowledge etc.

Commentingon the launch, Mr. Sandeep Prakash, Senior Vice President, West & South,Amway India said, “We have been working tirelessly towards the welfare of thevisually impaired with a firm belief that education and knowledge are the keyto the future that creates opportunities transcending physical limitations. Theinauguration of the Braille library is a key component of this strategy. This year alone we have supported opening of32 braille libraries across the country, which are expected to benefit morethan 11,000 visually impaired individuals. We are delighted to have partneredwith Samarthanam Trust for helping us set up Braille libraries in South India.”

Expressinghis gratitude to Sophia, he further added, “Sophia’s journey of accomplishmentsis truly inspiring & motivating to everyone who aims to transform theirdisability into ability to achieve their goals.”

Commendingthe initiative, Ms. Sophia M. Joe said, “I am honored to be a part of Amway’sinitiative to work towards the betterment of the visually impaired individualsin the country. The braille libraries have given the right motivation, guidanceand an opportunity to the students to overcome their disabilities and competewith the world with the power of knowledge and education.”

“DigitalBook Library, started in 2008, is aimed at making education accessible for theprint-disabled including visually impaired, dyslexic children and those withverbal processing difficulties. The main idea of the centre is to smoothen theeducation for visually impaired kids who have to go from pillar to post to gettheir books read,” says Mahantesh, Founder Managing Trustee, Samarthanam Trustfor the disabled. “We are extremely happy to associate with Amway India forthis venture” added Mahantesh.

Amway underthe National Project for the Visually Impaired, has taken various initiativesto support the cause of visually impaired including: -

· Amway hassupported the program digitizing class XIIth educational material for NationalInstitute of Open Schooling (NIOS), as well as select graduation andpost-graduation educational material for Delhi University, Mumbai Universityand Hyderabad/EFLU University, which is helping different abled especiallyvisually impaired students across the country.

· Amway’scommitment to educate the visually-impaired, led Amway to launch anAndroid-based application ‘Accessible Reader’, which leverages availabletext-to-speech engines and makes it convenient for the visually impaired toread digital documents.